AFTER LÉONARD LIMOUSIN, CIRCA 1870

Léonard Limousin (d. 1575/77) is known as the Fontainebleau School's greatest exponent in enamel painting. Introduced at the court of Francis I during the mid-1530s by his patron, Jean de Langeac, bishop of Limoges, Limousin was subsequently appointed peintre émailleur et valet de chambre du Roi by Henry II in 1548 and later served both François II and Charles IX. Other than his atelier's prolific output of plaques, plates and vessels in polychrome and grisaille enamels, Limousin is best known for his striking portraits (more than 130 still extant) of monarchs and courtiers, often derived from the créons by François Clouet and his school. The present portraits of Anne de Montmorency, Constable of France (d. 1567) and Catherine de'Medici (d. 1589), wife of Henry II and Regent during the minority of her son, Charles IX, represent two of enamel painting's greatest patrons. Limousin's portrait of the first, who probably became acquainted with the work of the enamel painters through the offices of his younger brother Philippe, Bishop of Limoges, was executed in 1556 and is now in the Louvre. Catherine de'Medici, on the other hand, was depicted no less than fourteen times. A total of eighteen of Limousin's portraits, including that of Anne de Montmorency and four of the Catherine de'Medici portraits, were mounted as here in elaborate frames incorporating additional enamel plaques depicting cherub and grotesque masks, satyrs, bacchantes and coats of arms.